After surgery is performed on an infant, such as facial surgery for example, there is usually a need to restrain the infant's hands from reaching his face where he could pull at bandages or stitches and possibly injure himself. Similarly, when an infant is being fed intravenously, it is necessary to restrict movement of the infant's arms to prevent him from pulling at the I.V. tubes. To those ends, arm restraints have been developed which can be applied around the arm of the infant to prevent the arm from bending at the elbow.
For example, one known type of arm restraint includes a fabric cover having pockets therein for receiving stiffening members, such as wooden tongue depressors. The arm restraint is wrapped about the elbow of the infant and secured in place by straps or ties extending from the arm restraint. A somewhat similar device is shown in Simon U.S. Pat. No. 2,606,554. One of the problems and disadvantages of this known type of arm restraint is that it is difficult to apply to the infant's arm, and usually requires two persons, one to hold the arm restraint in place and hold the infant, the other to fasten the ties. When the arm restraint becomes soiled, it is necessary to remove the stiffening members to permit laundering or sterilizing the cover and to replace the same after laundering. When the stiffening members inadvertently are left in the cover during laundering, they may become broken or damaged. However, when they are removed for laundering, they often become lost.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,010,452; 3,115,132; 4,070,027; 4,078,560; and 4,142,522 there are disclosed a number of other types of arm restraints which have been proposed. However, none of these arm restraints are apparently intended to be laundered or sterilized. Further, these devices allow the infant's skin to come into direct contact with foam or other plastic material, which is not only uncomfortable but may cause an irritation or rash on the sensitive skin of an infant.